When Was This
by HakushoRurouni
Summary: Jake Marks was just an ordinary teen with a passion with his godmother's novels. But then, when he finds that she has been murdered, he is thrown into a fray too bizzare to explain. With his new ally Steve at his side, will he find her murderer?
1. Prologue

A/N: Well, this is my first Outsiders/That Was Then This Is Now fic. It's a bit of a crossover but if you over look that, the main plot is primarily focused on one characters obsession. Anywayz, hope you enjoy!

**When Was This?**

Prologue 

The lion eyed his prey, carefully analyzing it's movements and making sure that there were no others around to help it. He licked his lips hungrily as the prey bent down to grab at some grass.

Now the lion made its way towards its victim. The animal had no way of knowing that its life was about to end. Then there was a snap as the lion stepped on the tall grass in front of it.

The prey's head shot up, looking in all directions while trying to find the source of the sound that had startled it so. The lion tensed, slowly forcing itself to duck out of site so as to not aware the prey of its presence.

The prey finally deciding that there was nothing to be afraid of out in the plain went back to eating its grass. Now the lion could move.

Even more cautiously than before the lion proceeded to sneak up on the animal it was stalking while said animal was still unaware of its existence. Finally coming to within range of the prey, the lion set itself up.

Its knees bent, muscles contracting and flexing. The lion steadied itself on all fours gathering the strength that it would need for the jump to the prey. The still unsuspecting animal continued to feed itself with the yellowing landscape.

Once the animal had bent down to get another helping the lion knew it was time.

He sprang. With a mighty roar the lion came down on the back of the stunned animal. The lion's claws dug deep into the animals flesh causing rivers of blood to start flowing, almost like a dam that had just been breached. The prey's eyes were wide and were rolling into the back of its head as the animal lost consciousness.

The lion latched it's jaws over the now unconscious animals neck, and with another roar, this time full of a savage blood lust that had taken over from the moment he had caught his prey's scent in his nostrils, it bit down and slowly but surely suffocated the animal.

The breathing slowed and as the lion continued to tear at the throat, the head ripped off the now dead body of the animal.

As blood spewed from the new opening, the lion dropped the decapitated head and while walking away, had what looked like an evil, satisfied smirk on it's face.

A/N: Okay, I swear to you, if you are a true Outsider/That Was Then This Is Now fan you might be getting what I was hinting at. If not, read TWTTIN. Anyway, please R&R! Flames and annonymous reviews welcome!


	2. Chapter One

A/N: Well, here's chapter one. I want to thank those of you who reviewed. It really helps a lot.

**When Was This?**

Chapter 1 

In the darkness of his bedroom Jake Marks sat up abruptly in his bed. 'What was…a lion?' He was perplexed, to say the least. The dream he had just been having still fresh in his mind. It confused him. Why had he been dreaming about a lion and its lunch?

Trying to clear his head, he shook it vigorously only succeeding in having his eyes cross and his vision fall out of focus again. After he pondered on this for a few more minutes, Jake looked at his bedside alarm clock.

4:59 a.m.

_Well,_ he thought, _I should probably get up anyway, seeing as how my alarm is going to go off in a minute anyway._ With that thought, he got up and slowly made his way towards the dimly lit restroom.

One step at a time, slowly, carefully, Jake walked forward. He was about in the restroom when there was a sharp pain on the bottom of his right foot. He raised one eyebrow up and lowered one down into a look of confusion.

Jake raised his foot and turned it over to look over his foot. There, embedded into the skin was a… was that a blue… yes it was. A blue thumbtack was the cause of the slight pain. What it had been doing on the floor in the first place was a mystery to him. Jake continued to walk into the restroom and proceeded to undress himself in order to take a shower when realization hit him.

"OWWWWWW!"

The once stoic silence that had occupied the house the previous second was shattered as Jake jumped up and down while grasping his foot in pain.

"OWOWOWOOWOWOW! SON OF A….WHO THE…OWWWWWW!"

He sat down on the toilet seat to steady himself trying to calm down and silence himself at the same time. Finally, after a couple of minutes, he managed to pluck the evil device out of his foot. As the metal point exited him, the expected blood flow followed.

Reaching under the sink and opening the cabinet Jake extracted the blue and white first- aid kit. He opened the kit and pulled out a band-aid to put over the wound. Discarding the three pieces of paper that covered said band-aid, Jake placed it on his foot.

Seeing the blood flow slowing, Jake decided to get into the shower and continue his morning routine.

As he stepped out of the shower, Jake caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. He paused to examine himself. He had reddish-brown hair that was clean cut and short. His eyes were an ice blue that could force anyone to stand down. He was 5'7", with a suitably muscled frame. He wore a long-sleeved blue shirt with a white t-shirt over it and black cargo pants over his lightly tanned skin. His shoes were black and white… nothing special.

He quietly made his way down stairs so as not to wake his mother or father. Going into the kitchen, he flipped the light switch, grabbed the remote and flipped on the TV. Oddly enough it was on the news.

"And our top story today, famous writer S.E. Hinton was found dead in her home, with what appeared to authorities to be knife wounds to her neck and abdomen. The assailant is still on the loose and the police currently have no identity to place with the murderer."

Jake had frozen at the mention of his godmother's name and was astonished. Why would someone want to kill his godmother? She was an author, one of his favorites, and she didn't exactly pose a threat to anyone… so… why?

A/N: Well there you go, how'd you like that? Well, like I said before, the story will come together in later chapters so in order to find out you have to read as I update, which will be everyday!


	3. Chapter Two

A/ N: Once again I have another chapter for this story. If you're wondering when it's going to start to involve Outsiders and That Was Then this is where the plot thickens. Thanks for the reviews guys they were awesome!

**When Was This?**

Chapter 2 

Running… I was running now… But from what? I can get away with anything… Why was I running?

A police car passed by, its strident siren piercing the cold morning air, and I suddenly remembered.

I was running back then, too. How I broke out of the state prison this time when all other times had failed was beyond me. But the adrenaline, the rush of success, coursed through my veins and I didn't bother to ask questions.

Where would I run to? All the family I had was dead to me now, all in that one night three years ago. It only I could begin again, I thought. Suddenly, I remembered the one time when they penned me in with that whacko explorer from New Jersey.

That guy kept talking about useless artifacts that had been confiscated when he was arrested. A dial that turned back a person's age, a pocket watch that stopped time, and a blue stone that could control the time space continuum had all been confiscated and were now at the museum.

Something in my mind told me the museum was my destination. When I arrived, the museum was closed. It was a tall two-story building, and wide too. Columns running along the building held up the roof and a long flight of stairs was the only way to the entrance. It looked like one of those Aztec temples we used to study about in World History.

After climbing the steps for what seemed like hours, I arrived at a set of glass doors. I looked around and found a stone trash can nearby. I picked it up and bashed it once against the glass. The glass cracked so I hit it again. The glass gave way and I reached my hand in and opened the door from the inside.

I looked around for a few minutes. Fascinating stuff, I tell ya. You should look around in a museum sometime, too. That's when I saw it. A shimmering blue stone in another glass case. I walked up to it and punched the glass. Nothing. I tried it again. This time a crack appeared in the glass. I slammed my fist into the glass case one more time and it shattered. My fist was bleeding like crazy, but nevertheless, I grabbed the blue stone and felt my body being hurled through the air.

I felt as if my body was bleeding pulled by a speeding train and when it finally stopped, I threw up for God knows how long.

I found myself on the lawn of a quiet house. From the windows, I could tell a lone woman was sitting, writing in a dimly lit room. There was a red van. Only it was smaller than usual…almost like some kind of minivan. I needed a ride badly so I walked up to the car, hoping I remembered how to hotwire vehicles. My hands seemed to work on their own, magically bringing the car to humming life.

The next thing I know, the woman came out in a blue bathrobe.

"You! What are you doing?"

"Sorry ma'am, I need the ride," I called back. "Who are you again?"

"I'm...," she replied.

The rest is all a blur. I left the car behind and now I'm running.

A/N: Once again, thanks for the reviews guys! I really appreciate them! The next chapter should be out tommorow, unless I become physically impared! Please stay with me!


	4. Chapter Three

A/N: Okay, thanks again for all the reviews! But let me make one thing clear for this chapter...it was not written by me. As stated before (I hope) this story was written for my ELA class with three of my friends. This chapter was by one of them.

Chapter 3

Why? She didn't do anything. I pondered on the simple question for a few minutes and the more I did, the more I realized that I couldn't do a single thing about it. All of a sudden, another newsflash came on the screen.

"Adding onto the murder of S.E. Hinton, there was detectable D.N.A. found at the scene of the crime. However, forensics teams are stumped due to the fact that the D.N.A has absolutely no match for any of their files."

I stared at the screen in awe. How is that possible? I was trapped in my own mind with millions of questions when all of a sudden a Meow Mix commercial came on. That really snapped me out of it. I turned off the annoying commercial and thought to myself, _She doesn't live that far away from here._ I figured I might as well go check it out for myself.

After getting ready to leave, I took off towards her home, which was about twelve blocks away from where I lived. While I was running over there, a teenager ran around the corner of a house. I swiftly stepped to the side as to get out of his way. He brushed up against my shoulder and turned his head towards me. He had golden eyes and they were like knives piercing into my skin.

I had a flashback of my dream at the exact moment he turned. I saw the lion running and it turned its head at me while its golden eyes stared at me, too. The lion roared at me with the anger, the ferocity, and the intensity of a whole pride.

While watching him pass by, I tripped over a trashcan. CRASH!

"Holy crap!" I yelled out. I lay there for a while before picking myself up. I hope I didn't break anything. I brushed myself off and continued towards my godmother's home. I looked at my arm and saw a steady trickling of blood.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," I replied, anger rising in my voice. "Why were you running?"

The kid's voice and face changed once I asked him that. "None of your frickin' business."

Taken aback I replied, "I just wanted to know…"

Completely at random, he asked, "Hey, I could use some help."

I was suddenly wondering what the heck this guy might need help with. "With what?"

At once, he began telling me this long story of this search he is on. "It all started when this man came to my town," he said, "He told me he wanted help with something. I said I was busy and the next day, he came again. This time, he was scared. He had with him 3 items. I assumed they were valuable so I swiped one of them. I ran away and here I am. I got some information from the guy though. He said you could control time and stuff like that with the items. I am now on this journey to find this man because he has the other items that I need. Will you help me?

With great hesitance I said, "Sure, why not?"

"By the way," he said, " the names… uh… Steve."

"Mine's Jake."

We then shook hands.

A/N: Review Responses

Hahukum Konn: Thanks. When we first wrote the story we were worried people wouldn't be able to follow it!

Locket the Lookout: Thanks! And here's the update!

NittanyLizard: Thanks for the constructive criticism! That really helps me in my writing!

Well, thank you all for your reviews and I hope you enjoyed the update!


	5. Chapter Four

A/N: Well here's the next chapter in When Was This. Sorry about the whole delay thing...don't really have an excuse!

* * *

Chapter 4 

"How do you propose that we go about this 'search' of yours?" I said.

"Well, you remember the artifact that I told you about?" I nodded to Steve. "And you didn't believe me?" Again I nodded, wondering how in the world he knew that. "I'm gonna tell you again, it's real!" he said.

I stared at him, still not believing. He sighed, reached into his pocket and extracted a small, smooth, brilliantly blue colored stone. My eyes widened in shock. It was exactly as he had described it, shape and all.

He smirked at my stunned expression.

"See? I told ya. You're gonna have to learn to trust me, buddy boy, if you want to survive this little 'escapade' of mine."

We continued walking the twelve blocks back to my house while Steve explained his plan.

"We're gonna need food, clothes, water, yatta yatta, etc. You know, the works!"

We arrived at my house and walked in, Steve sporting a grin and I sporting numerous smarting cuts and bruises.

"Make yourself at home, Steve, I'm gonna go patch myself up!"

"Alright!" Steve said, sitting down at the kitchen table.

For the second time that day walked into the upstairs restroom and looked at myself in the mirror as I withdrew the first-aid kit. I slowly and carefully cleaned my wounds and slapped on a few band-aids. I walked into my room and grabbing my backpack and dumping all my school stuff out and onto the floor so as to make room for the clothes we would need.

"Hey Steve!" I yelled. "What size clothes do you wear?" Silence. He was probably pondering this or checking the tag on the back of his tank top shirt.

"Medium, why?" he responded.

"Well it looks like you can use my clothes for the trip 'cause I'm the same size!"

"Cool!" he said.

I descended the stairs. "So what are we gonna do about food?" I asked.

"We'll take all of what we have here and hope the inhabitants of the other worlds are hospitable." Steve said.

There was an awkward silence, broken by the sound of the air conditioner turning on.

"Umm…how are we supposed to use it?" I asked.

"No clue."

"What do you mean you don't know!" I yelled.

"Well, I've never used it before so I don't…"

Marks sentence was cut off as a feeling of weightlessness overpowered my body and I lost consciousness.

* * *

A/N: Well, if you think that was too short, don't worry, the next chapter is gonna go up by tommorow! Please R&R! 


	6. Chapter Five

A/N: Okay people, this is where this story starts to make less and less sense. This is also where one of my other friends took over to write this chapter so...anyway, thanks for the review..you know who you are. Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 5**

"Hey wake up kid," said a deep raspy voice.

"Huh?" Jake said while trying to spit out the grass and dirt that had entered his mouth in his temporary unconsciousness. Then as he cleared his head he realized that, to his bewilderment, Solid Snake was kneeling right in front of him. "Where am I?"

"Somewhere near the Grosnij Grad Lab," the man said. His chestnut brown hair was ruffled, and kept in place by a gray rolled up bandana. He had bright green eyes and an unshaven beard. He was wearing a torn green camouflage shirt with matching face paint.

"Where?" Jake repeated.

"Somewhere in the middle of Russia," the rough man clarified, annoyed.

Jake's mind began to clear and he suddenly recognized the dirty face. "Are you…?"

"Solid Snake," the man interrupted. "I was in the middle of my 'Snake Eater' mission, when I heard a loud bang, like some sort of sonic boom. Then a black hole formed in the sky and two orbs shot out of it. They rocketed toward the ground in different directions. One of them, apparently, is you. The other…"

"Where did the other one land?" Jake asked.

Snake looked at Jake with a grave face. "It landed somewhere inside the Grosnij Grad Laboratory."

* * *

"Where am I?" Steve thought as he looked around. He couldn't see a thing… Everything was covered in darkness.

"Is it him?" a sinister voice asked.

"No," someone answered, "But we can use him… a hostage, perhaps?"

Steve's insides grew cold as a sinister laughter filled the black room and he passed out.

* * *

Jake's stomach began to growl.

"Here," Snake said, pulling out a cylindrical package. "Eat it."

"What is it?" Jake asked, reluctant to find out.

"Indian Gavial," Snake replied. "It's sort of like a crocodile, but its snout is longer. Just imagine its chicken."

"Okay," Jake answered. "I'll try."

Jake opened the package and a familiar scent ran through his nostrils. _Well it smells like chicken, _Jake thought,_ it must taste like it too. _Jake greedily ripped his teeth through the crocodile's scaly skin.

As soon as he finished, Snake grabbed Jake and picked him up. "Let's go."

"Where?" Jake asked.

"To Grosnij Grad," Snake said. "To get the Sokolov and the Shagohod."

"The what?" Jake asked.

"The Shagohod is a nuclear missile attached onto a tank. I must destroy it before the final testing takes place."

They walked for hours until they ran into a clearing then Jake heard someone call out his name. Jake ran towards the voice.

"No, kid!" Snake cried. "Come back! It might be a trap!"

But Jake ignored him. Snake was right. Jake's foot stepped into a snare trap, and a second later he was ten feet in the air, hanging by his foot caught in a rope.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Snake said.

As Snake made his way up the tree to cut the rope, Jake heard a rustling behind him. As he looked back, he heard a cocky voice.

"Hold it right there, Solid Snake," the voice said.

"Ocelot," Snake muttered under his breath.

Ocelot dropped from the air onto the branch that Jake was hanging from. Ocelot had neatly cut short, blonde hair. His eyes were a piercing dark blue, and his smooth, pale skin contrasted with Snake's tanned skin. He had two holsters each holding a single action army revolver. He was wearing a black shirt and maroon gloves and an under shirt. Wrapped around his torso was a strap full of bullets.

"JAKE!" a loud voice cried out. Jake turned his head upward in the direction of the voice and found Steve hanging off of another branch on the exact same tree. What a coincidence. Steve was hanging by a chain cuffed around his wrists.

Ocelot began trying to tell Snake something, but Snake couldn't hear. A loud humming noise began to fill the air. Jake and Steve made eye contact and Steve's eyes began to glow blue.

"What's going on?" Jake yelled, trying to overpower the humming noise. That weightless feeling began to fill Jake's body again. Jake and Steve began to spin in a rapid vortex and a moment later, Jake appeared in another large forest. By now, Jake had gotten used to the feeling.

"What the heck happened?" asked Jake. "Steve?"

At that exact moment, Steve fell out of the sky, gasping for air.

Steve had a frantic look on his face.

"I need to tell you something, Jake. While they were holding me prisoner in that lab in Gross Nick… whatever, I overheard something I think will help us find what we're looking for. I heard there was a man teleporting to different worlds in search of an important object. I'm not sure what he's looking for, but I'm pretty sure it's the guy I'm looking for.

"That man told me a long time ago that these artifacts are all connected in some way. So I figure that every time he teleports to another world…"

"We teleport along with him," Jake finished.

"Exactly," Steve replied. "So then he must have gone into that world and we got dragged into it along with him."

"And when he left, so did we," Jake said, beginning to understand what Steve was thinking. "So if we teleport with him that means he's somewhere around here… So what are we waiting for?"

Steve's golden eyes flashed with a sudden intensity. "For that man to make a move."

All of a sudden, an arrow shot through the air…

* * *

A/N: Okay, if you didn't think that was weird...well...you obviously thought it made sense. I agree on both fronts, but mostly on the, "That-didn't-make-any-bloody-sense!" one.

Please R&R!


	7. Chapter Six

A/N: Well, it's been a long time eh? Sorry for those of you who were waiting. This story is back and we're near the end. I'm not gonig to stop you, here is chapter 6 of When Was This.

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Chapter 6 

With a sickening thud, the arrow landed in the tree behind Steve, narrowly missing his head.

"What in the…" Steve started, but was cut off as yet another arrow hit the tree behind him with a _thwang! _"Jesus, Billy, and Sarah!" Steve shouted as he hit the ground pulling Jake with him.

With no other alternative Steve decided to go for the international and well- known way to say that you come in peace. Holding out two fingers in a v-shape he cautiously raised his head and shouted,

"We come in peace!! We mean you no harm!!!"

The arrows stopped. Then all around them there was a muttering in a strange tongue. The mutterers seemed to be having a discussion about what to do with the unknown creatures that had fallen from the sky.

Then after what seemed like an hour, one voice rang out, "Rise humans!"

Taking this as a gesture of trust and promise that there would be no further arrows shot at him, Steve rose, followed closely by a reluctant Jake.

"Who are you?" asked the voice of the obvious leader of the group.

"My name is Steve and this is my friend Jake Marks and we don't know where the heck we are."

"You are in the forest of Trollshaws east of Rivendell and you are in the presence of Lady Arewen daughter of Lord Elrond and you would do best to show some respect human."

"I'll show respect to whoever I please when I think they deserve it. Also, I have to be able to see them." Steve replied boldly.

"How dare…" Said the voice but it was cut off as another, almost heavenly voice, penetrated the clearing.

"That's enough Gladmer." Then, out of the forest that surrounded them, there emerged a woman. But this was no ordinary woman; she was a captivating creature with beautiful features. The only thing that separated her from a normal woman, aside from her heavenly voice and entrancing features, were her pointed ears.

"These humans are obviously not from around here and are in need of our help." She turned away from the still camouflaged group she was apparently talking to and was now facing Steve and Jake. "Please, if you would be so kind young one; tell us what it is you are doing."

Steve smirked. "We're on the trail of a villain/murderer that we need to catch. However, we've been traveling to different worlds and now that we're here we have no way of knowing where we are and how the inhabitants of the worlds we land in will react to us. As you could see, your friends nearly put an arrow through my head, and, well, let's just say I thought you guys were the violent type."

Arewen looked at Steve in befuddlement. "You talk of travel between worlds. We have never heard of such things here in Middle Earth. Please, if you would follow us to Rivendell, I'm sure my father would help you with your search."

With that she turned and started to walk towards the forest. So as not to lose her, Steve and Jake ran to her sides and continued walking with her.

* * *

It took about half an hour to get to Rivendell and it was well worth it. The sight that befell them was indescribably beautiful.

The greenery was lush and abundant as well as the life forms. The "city" was stirring with life and new sights as their group made their way towards the heart of the city, ignoring the whisperings that usually occur in a "city" and/or village when outsiders walk through the streets.

They made their way to a tall structure with hardly any walls, almost all of it was held up by concrete columns. As they were entering the bottom of the building, Jake noticed a lone figure, nearly as mystifying and as intriguing as Arewen herself. The figure just stared at them with what seemed to be a glare on its face.

"That was my father," said Arewen, "do not let his distaste for humans bother you. Ever since the incident with Isildur and the ring…" she trailed off as she reminisced.

Steve and Jake just stared at her, not knowing what she was talking about. The ring? Isildur? They shrugged it off as nothing that would affect them.

When they walked onto the top floor of the building they were met by Lord Elrond.

"Arewen why do you escort humans into our midst?" He asked angrily.

"Please father, they are lost and in need of help. We found them in the forest of Trollshaws, just coming out of unconsciousness. We saw two orbs of light falling from the sky and followed them. When we got to where they had landed, these humans were there. They say that they come from another world and are chasing after a murderer who has also crossed into another world."

Elrond looked at her, a questioning gaze fixed on Steve and Jake. "You say that they come from another world and they are chasing after a mystery murderer?" Jake and Steve nodded enthusiastically, hoping that he would believe them.

Just then, someone strode out onto the floor and came to a rest next to Elrond. "Elrond the…who are these humans?" The man who was speaking was old. He had a long white beard and long white robes with a white staff that he used to support himself.

"Ah, Gandalf, just the wizard I was looking for!"

Wizard? Just where in the bloody universe were they?

"My daughter tells me that these two humans are from another world and that they are looking for a murderer who likewise can jump from world to world. What do you make of this?" Elrond asked.

The old man, now known as Gandalf, stared at the two for a long time and then, without looking away, spoke to Elrond.

"One of them speaks the truth." Arewen's features changed to one of surprise, as did Elrond's and the two boys. Gandalf continued, "The other however, tells lies."

Then all of a sudden, there was the familiar feeling of weightlessness and the loss of consciousness as a bright light filled the room.

* * *

A/N: Well, there you have it. I know it's short, but this story wasn't meant to be novel length. Until next time,

-HakushoRurouni


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